American Recruitment Now WorkSeek.com, Closing on $25M Infusion
After six years of helping customers attract workers for retail and sales jobs, American Recruitment will be looking for a few dozen employees of its own as it metamorphoses into Orange County’s newest dot-com venture.
The Laguna Hills job-fair organizer is closing in on $25 million in its first outside funding, and changing its name to WorkSeek.com, moves that officials there say are precursors to a planned December 2000 public offering.
Founder Derek Ludwig said he plans a network of industry-specific job-seeker sites, starting with technical services-oriented GeekSeek.com in December. That will be followed by 21 others, including MedicalSeek.com, RealtorSeek.com and CreativeSeek.com.
“At some point you make a decision: Do you want to be a major player or do you want to stagnate?” he said. “We really had no choice. If we don’t grow this business, we may get run over.”
Even before the foray into web-based services, his firm was considered one of the country’s fastest-growing private businesses, reaching No. 106 in this year’s Inc. 500. The company employs about 85 and expects to exceed 200 by the end of next year.
Ludwig is finalizing the private investment now and expects to begin interviewing IPO underwriters in January. But he and his investors won’t be the only ones cashing in; employees have a collective stake of about 35% in the company.
Plans for the most recent round of financing include advertising campaigns and partnerships with trade associations and Internet portals such as Excite, Yahoo! and Snap. It will also help fund the company’s first out-of-state expansion as it opens regional offices in Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Dallas and Washington D.C.
A slew of other job-seeker web sites have gotten a jump on his company’s Internet excursions, and Ludwig admits that the head start will take a huge advertising budget to overcome.
Competitive Niche
But he added that he’s confident WorkSeek.com’s niche focus, integration with real-world job expos and resume-filtering software will quickly make it competitive with established sites.
WorkSeek.com will use a system that asks job hunters to specify skills and experience and compiles those answers into a database. Results are filtered and presented to employers according to how well candidates fit job profiles. And job seekers can schedule interviews from the site rather than having to call the company.
Ludwig said WorkSeek.com will integrate the web service tightly with the job expos, a trend commonly called “click and mortar.”
The concept is a hybrid of traditional “brick and mortar” businesses and Internet-based ventures. By combining the best of both worlds , the low cost of automated Internet operations and the customer service and security offered by having a physical presence , businesses hope to take advantage of technology without abandoning their real-world investments.
Ludwig said companies that participate in job expos, for instance, will be able to direct candidates to the web site, and candidates who want to meet a company representative personally will be able to see when employers are available at one of the expos. And according to Ludwig, no job site will be able to offer the kind of targeting WorkSeek.com does.
“If you look at most of the major players, they’ve got one service to offer the customer and they’re very reliant on that one service,” said the former corporate recruiter, who created American Recruitment with a $7,000 advance on his credit card. “We’ve got everything for everybody, and that very much sets us apart.”
Crowded Field
Though the market has flourished as historically low unemployment levels leave companies scrambling to fill their ranks, that also has made for an increasingly crowded field.
Monster.com is the largest and one of the oldest job sites on the Internet, and dozens of others are positioning to take its place. Add to that companies’ increasingly sophisticated in-house online recruiting efforts, and WorkSeek.com could have a tough time distinguishing itself.
But despite the catching up he has to do, Ludwig insists he’s glad he waited to get a better grasp of the online market. Internet-based job searches and well-funded competition have sliced already thin profit margins. But Ludwig said he’s prepared for the change, pointing out that the job fairs his company hosts already are considered a low-cost alternative to traditional job recruitment.
Ludwig plans to stay on after the IPO, saying he’s prepared for the transition to a public company.
“Are you kidding? I won’t have any choice , it’s just now getting fun,” he said. n
